Cincinnati State is one of six community colleges across Ohio sharing a $5 million dollar federal grant designed to retrain 660 displaced or underemployed workers in declining industries for a career in the growing bioscience field.
The grant was awarded to
BioOhio, a nonprofit, Columbus-based bioscience accelerator, for its
Ohio Bioscience Industry Workforce Preparedness Project. BioOhio also doled out part of the $5 million grant to Columbus State Community College, Cuyahoga Community College, Lakeland Community College, Owens Community College and Sinclair Community College.
The initiative will take place over three years, and more than $2.8 million of grant has been set aside for tuition reimbursement and trainee scholarships
These community colleges will work with employers and labor, workforce development and non-profit organizations to develop programs to retrain and identify workers in Ohio's shrinking auto manufacturing industry as well as other declining industries.
"There is a real need for this kind of retraining in Ohio, and community colleges such as Cincinnati State are ideally situated to provide it," said Dr. Ulrich, Executive Director of the Workforce Development Center at Cincinnati State. "We’re grateful to BioOhio and the Labor Department for the opportunity."
In addition to retraining workers, the Workforce Preparedness Project also will help 40 workers already in the bioscience field advance to higher-level positions.
BioOhio officials have said the bioscience field represents a potential high growth area for Ohio workers. According to their grant application, Ohio had more than 1,140 bioscience related companies as of 2008 and saw 92 start-ups in the field during 2008-09. BioOhio officials believe the industry will add at least 1,500 new jobs over the next two to three years.
Cincinnati State is working with Dayton-based Sinclair Community College to get the program going in Southwest Ohio. They will collaborate with statewide and local partners - including Amylin Pharmaceuticals in West Chester, Alkermes Inc. in Wilmington, and Eurand Pharmaceuticals and IMDS (a medical device manufacturer) in Vandalia.
Writer: Feoshia Henderson
Source: Cincinnati State communications
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